Erotic Asphyxiation (Sexual Strangulation or Choking) Poses Serious Health Risks

In 2022, researchers at Bangor University in Wales found that strangulation (including as part of domestic violence) is the second most common cause of stroke in women under 40. And still, erotic asphyxiation is increasingly popular as a form as sexual stimulation particularly in women under 40. Erotic asphyxiation, sexual strangulation or choking, is the intentional restriction of oxygen to the brain for the purposes of sexual arousal. And a recent article in The Guardian, is bringing to light the concerns of a number of researchers who have studied the risk. For instance, according to Dr. Debby Herbenick, a public health professor at Indiana

University, in 2023, campus-representative surveys of thousands of college students showed that 64% of women, 29% of men, 63% of trans and nonbinary undergraduate and graduate students with any partnered experience had ever been choked with consent, and 18% of women, 7% men, 11% of TGNB students had been choked without consent. The problem, according to Jane Meyrick, a chartered health psychologist who leads work on sexual health at the University of the West of England is that “[t]here’s no safe way to do it, no safe quantity of blood or oxygen you can cut off from her brain for fun.” That same sentiment was echoed by Dr. Herbenick, that “[t]here is no zero-risk way of engaging in choking." She added that, “[t]hough deaths from consensual choking are rare, they do happen.”

That is because the neck is described by experts as “alarmingly fragile.” Restricting blood flow to the brain can cause permanent injury, no matter how brief. For instance, even the “relatively low” amount of force to open a can of soda, when applied to the throat, could cause unconsciousness and risk brain injury. Sexual strangulation can cause bruising or swelling of the neck, vision changes, dizziness or light-headedness and difficulty swallowing. And, more important, “[t]he risks associated with brain injury increase with each subsequent strangulation,” said Heather Douglas, from Melbourne University Law School, in connection with an Australian survey, published in the journal the Archives of Sexual Behavior last year.

“So it’s a little bit like head injury in that injuries can accumulate. Miscarriage can also result from strangulation, and can occur a week or months down the track. Strangulation can lead to a stroke. There can also be an incremental reduction in memory,” she said.

And still, “[i]t has become normalised practice among younger people and not viewed as problematic," said Meyrick, "and most older people have no idea.”